He leaves the room to grab his own beer, and Blaze and I sit in silence until he returns.
“So what’s going on?” River asks as he sinks down into the armchair.
I look at Blaze, unsure of what he wants to tell River. Whatever he says has a good chance of getting back to Pandora, one way or another.
“So. That Rachel girl.” Blaze takes a long swig, then glances at River. “What actually happened to her? I gather she’s dead. And she was Pandora’s friend, and you had some sort of falling out? But Asch and I don’t know the full story.”
“We don’t know exactly,” River says, his eyes narrowed. “She disappeared, and two weeks later, she showed up in a landfill inpieces.” He takes a long drink of his beer. “The falling out was… sort of unrelated.”
I wait, curious to see if he’s going to give any more details.
“What happened between me and Pandora didn’t have to do with Rachel,” River says instead.
Blaze rolls his eyes. “Yeah, sure.” He takes his phone out of his pocket and taps on the screen. “Rachel Turner.” He grimaces. “Found cut up in a land fill. That’s… sloppy.”
“Sloppy.” River’s voice is savage. “Yeah. That’s one word for it, Blaze.” He pauses, then glances between the two of us. “What do you know? You said you didn’t know anything about her.”
“We didn’t,” I say. “Not at the time.”
Not until very recently, I don’t say.
“Pandora was right that she was here.” Blaze starts peeling the wrapper off his beer bottle. “I found her ‘modeling’ contract. I hadn’t seen her though. Normally we do thorough checks. If anyone had known she had ties with the Pavone family, there’s no fucking way she would have been pulled in. And the murder—no. Most of them don’t get killed. And they definitely don’t get left where they could be found.”
It should be a relief to hear that the women don’tgenerallyend up killed, but the whole thing is so unpalatable that I can’t bring myself to feel anything but angry. How had I been so stupid that I hadn’t realized that some of the women at the clubs might not have been entirely willing?
“How many of themdoget killed?” River asks, voicing the question I had been too cowardly to find out the answer to. “And why? Can’t keep a few women under control?”
Blaze glowers at River. “Do you really want to start casting stones, Rivera? I know what your family does for the Pavones.”
“At least we aren’t killing innocent girls,” River snaps at him.
“Come off it. If she weren’t your friend, you wouldn’t have given a shit,” Blaze answers. “Even Pandora wouldn’t have givena shit. As evidenced by the fucking head she delivered to us. Not exactly the actions of someone who cares about the sanctity of human life.”
“Zayden deserved it,” River says.
“Did he, though?” I ask.
“Yes!” River shouts. “He was responsible for girls going missing.”
“But did Pandora even know that when she killed him?” I ask slowly. “Or did she just think he was responsible for the…”
For theincidentat the gym.
“I don’t know,” River growls. “I guess she could’ve blamed him for that. She thought he was there. But why would she—” He cuts himself off with a bark of a laugh. “Never mind. I know why she didn’t come at us. She didn’t want us dead. She wanted us to suffer.”
“And she was doing a fucking fine job of it,” Blaze mutters. “You got off easy though, didn’t you? No weird sex games with you. She didn’t threaten to remove more bones.”
River’s expression flickers, and I wonder if she did do something to him after all. He doesn’t seem interested in telling us. “Just more violence,” River retorts instead.
“But you still have all your parts. Minus a finger,” I say, exhaling slowly. “Fuck. Okay. So first of all, we have to worry about Ezio zeroing in completely on her. Then we have to worry about what happens when she finds out about Rachel.”
“And we have to figure out how to get her out of this… mood that she’s in,” River replies. “She’s not acting like herself.”
No. She isn’t.
“I don’t get it,” Blaze adds. “Didn’t you two fuck her at the club? And we beat up Tate for her. Why’s she suddenly so…”
“Depressed,” I finish for him.
